Letters to the editor

What an unexpected gift lands in President Barack Obama’s lap every time rookie Sen. Ted Cruz speaks. Cruz’s self-serving obstructionism and willingness to close down the government to get his way on Obamacare turned the spotlight off the glitches in introducing the Affordable Care Act.

What an unexpected gift lands in President Barack Obama’s lap every time rookie Sen. Ted Cruz speaks. Cruz’s self-serving obstructionism and willingness to close down the government to get his way on Obamacare turned the spotlight off the glitches in introducing the Affordable Care Act.

Instead, Cruz highlights the far worse option of a government run by a segment of the Republican Party that abhors the democratic essential of compromise in order to govern rationally.

Surely Cruz will win the October Award of the Month as being the Democratic Party's best ally in Congress.

Harold J. Schultz

Kansas CityDon’t cut food stamps

Sending a child to school without food is a choice that no parent wants to make. The proposed House Farm Bill would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $40 billion in 2014, forcing 4 million Americans off the program, a program in which 22 million recipients are children.

It would also deny thousands of low-income children free meals at school. As a daughter of a teacher, I've heard numerous stories about the perils that accompany children going to school hungry.

Hungry children are uninterested and disengaged. No parent should have to send children to school without food.

I urge Sens. Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill to only support a farm bill that protects SNAP and the millions of children and adults the program helps.

Courtney Miskell

Kansas CityCars, bikes, mass transit

Car manufacturers release new models each year, and each year they add new special safety equipment. Some models are so well-equipped the car almost drives itself.

Car manufacturers know humans won't change their ways, continuing to drive distracted and at high rates of speed. Anyone understanding basic physics knows large heavy objects take a lot of energy and effort to slow down, and when they crash they cause damage.

If you look at the first cars ever produced, they are much different than the cars produced today. On the other hand, if you look at the average modern bicycle and compare it with the original safety bicycle, it looks nearly the same.

I will use the adage “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” The automobile is dead.